The Return of River Song
by letmelivepleasemegan
Summary: Just after Trenzalore the Doctor gets River back. But what happens when his wife has been living in a computer and Oswin Oswald deletes his name from every database in history?
1. Chapter 1- A solution

The moment the Doctor pulled the lever down the floor shook. He gripped the lever tightly to stop from being thrown into the opposite wall as the TARDIS tilted. He looked over at Clara to check that she hadn't fallen, a habit of his as most of his companions grew used to the juttering flight of the TARDIS after just a few trips.  
"Fine." She said pointedly, clutching the rail behind her. "And your bow tie is crooked."  
The Doctor looked away embarrassed and straightened it before turning back to the console, a hexagonal table with all manner of pipes, cables, levers and buttons scattered around it.  
"So that's it?" Clara asked as he ran round to the other side to twist the right knob. "All that just happened on Trenzalore and we just run off to the next place?"  
The Doctor looked up and grinned at her. "Running off is what I do best." She didn't smile as he had expected her too but walked up to him, he noticed that her plaid dress was slightly torn at the shoulder from her fall through his time stream and her usually immaculate brunette hair was frizzing about her face.  
She leant next to him and stretched her arm out to stop him hitting the blue button he had been reaching for. "Nu uh." She said, quirking her eyebrows up. "I want answers."  
He pulled a face at her. "Answers to what?"  
"Oh I don't know..."She started airily, tapping the console. "How about we start with the dead wife that you've never mentioned before?"  
He felt his muscles tighten and his fingers went rigid at his sides. He looked around the TARDIS, taking in the round walls and blue lighting searching for any distraction from answering.  
"River." He said at last as though this answered everything, his voice catching at the end. He looked at Clara who was watching him anxiously.  
"River." She prompted.  
"You know," The Doctor said loudly and gleefully. "I've changed my mind, I have a much better idea." He ran to the other side of the TARDIS and input the new co-ordinates, oblivious to Clara's protests.  
He snapped his head up as he clutched the lever and winked at her. "Geronimo!" He shouted as he slammed the lever down. The TARDIS jerked to the side, snapping Clara's neck round as she went flying into the railing that surrounded the console area.  
The droning of the TARDIS was drowned out by a sudden high pitched alarm. Clara, who had shut her eyes at the sudden impact opened them to find the room spinning. She put her fingers to a sore spot on her forehead and they came away red and sticky where they'd hit the metal poles.  
"Woops," The Doctor muttered, clutching onto the rim of the console area.  
The floor was still shaking and it took Clara a few moments to realise that the room was bathed in ambers and reds rather than the usual icy lighting. She heard the sound of sparks and watched as part of the console combusted.  
"Doctor!" She shouted, panicked. The Doctor slammed his hand onto rectangular button which doused the fire but increased the shaking. He gritted his teeth and pulled himself closer to the console. There he grabbed a dial and started to spin it, the dial resisting him more with each turn.  
"Oh come on..." He muttered before calling to Clara. "Hold onto something!"  
"Why?!" She screamed back but grabbed onto the railing tightly anyway. The moment she did the Tardis span in a full circle, spinning her round the railing so that she was clutching onto the other side. Her teeth jarred together as she slammed into it and she blinked dazedly. The floor was a foot beneath her so she dropped to it before using the edge of the staircase that led back to the console room to steady her as she pulled herself to her feet.  
The impact seemed to have stopped the room from spinning so she ran to the console despite the ground apparently trying to push her off.  
"Is now really the time?" She muttered angrily at the TARDIS who she thought liked her now but she wasn't throwing the Doctor around as much as she was her. Clara cursed herself silently, talking to the TARDIS? She was becoming as bad as him.  
She reached the Doctor. "Can you steady that?" He shouted, pointing to a joy stick that was moving of its own accord. She grabbed hold of it with one hand while clutching the rim with her other and tried to hold it still in the middle.  
"What's happening?" She asked. She was surprised to find herself excited, after all that had happened on Trenzalore the TARDIS crashing seemed like a joyful adventure. "Why is the TARDIS doing this?"  
"Two theories." The Doctor told her as he nimbly steered it but he said nothing else.  
"Care to venture one?" She asked back, giving up on trying to steady herself and clutching the joystick with both hands to finally keep it still.  
"Okay first." The Doctor said. "We're going somewhere I've been before. A few moments after I left, if she misses it by a moment it could create a paradox. So it's like her head is a millimetre away from a guillotine. Enough to make anyone...well jumpy. She is literally running parallel to the end of the universe."  
The Tardis gave a particularly large shake that would have sent both the Doctor and Clara flying if they hadn't been clinging on so tightly.  
"Well that's stupid." Clara said. "You manage to get me back home within minutes, she- I mean the TARDIS does it all the time."  
"Yes." The Doctor conceded. "Which is why I think it must be theory two but the possibility of one remains."  
The button the Doctor had been about to press exploded in flames which was quickly doused by the wave that crashed through the room. The Doctor coughed a few times whilst the TARDIS's siren wailed ever louder.  
"What," He asked. "Was that?"  
Clara arched her back so that she could look down the hallway. "The living room door opened."  
"Well why would that cause this?" The Doctor shouted over the noise. Smoke had remained from the fire which was causing a hazy screen between them.  
"That's where the swimming pool was last, right?" Clara asked, grabbing two halves of a switch and holding them together.  
"Oh yes." The Doctor said nodding. "I still can't get used to it not being in the library." He flicked his wet hair out of his eyes sending a spray of water across the room. "Ready?"  
"For what?" Clara screamed. "And what's theory two?"  
The Doctor slammed a lever down and the TARDIS jerked suddenly to a halt which slammed Clara down on the ground. She lay there for a moment feeling rather battered before climbing back to her feet. She swayed slightly and the Doctor grabbed her arm to stop her from falling. The room appeared relatively unscathed, the bluish light back and only a thin vapour remaining to show where fires had started.  
He scowled at her. "How did you do that?" He asked, pointing to the gash in her forehead. She tried to remember the many falls she had had in the last few minutes before shrugging as she failed to come to a definite moment.  
"Theory two," The Doctor said slowly. "Is that the TARDIS knew what I was about to do and was trying to stop me.  
Clara pushed her own wet hair out of her face and glared at the Doctor. "Which was what exactly? And where are we."  
He glided over to the door and ridiculously gestured to it. "Clara," He grinned. "I think I left something at the library."


	2. Chapter 2- A surprise

"The library?" Clara repeated, staring at the Doctor as though wondering if he really was as mad as he often acted. "Okay first off I am going nowhere looking like this and look at you! You're dripping" Secondly, the TARDIS almost crashed for a library? And finally what on Earth are we doing at a library when you have one larger than my house and I cannot stress this last bit enough, in your _time machine."_  
"All very good points." The Doctor said. "But none of them are important so come on, it'll only take a moment."  
Clara rolled her eyes. "Fine." The doctor pulled the door open and stepped out, Clara following.  
"This," She asked. "Is a library?"  
In Clara's mind, library meant something very similar to what was on the TARDIS. It meant wooden floors and Persian rugs with huge comfy armchairs scattered around. It meant shadows thrown by countless bookshelves that seemed to stretch higher than the ceiling. It meant the smell of the paper you only found bound together in books and the feel of silence you could only find somewhere powerful, somewhere that made you never want to go anywhere else ever again.  
This, however, looked very much like how Clara imagined the inside of the first ever computer looked. Huge metallic sheets for walls with whirring machines scattered haphazardly around the room.  
The doctor waved his hand at her dismissively. "Well it's the database of the library, electronic copies of all the books."  
"What books?"  
"All of them, the whole planet is a library, The Library to be precise and it's all run from here."  
"What do you mean run?" She asked, following him through the labyrinth of computer parts. "How do you run a library with a computer, what electronic librarians telling people to be quieter?" She joked.  
"In a manner of speaking, like I said it's a whole planet, to get from the A to the C section you need to use the transmat pads."  
"This is the point of our conversation where I just nod and pretend like I understand isn't it?" Clara asked, looking around pondering what the Doctor could possibly want down here.  
"That would be very nice yes." He took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned it round the room, the high pitched buzzing oddly reassuring.  
"Aha!" He shouted making Clara jump. He pointed the screwdriver out in front of him and ran. Clara sighed and followed at a slightly fast walk. She'd been hoping for somewhere a bit more exciting.  
He started tapping at the computer.  
"You said you left something here." Clara said, leaning against the wall next to the computer screen.  
"I did." The Doctor replied as he continued to tap. The screen was displaying rapid strings of binary code so quickly the ones and zeros merged together.  
"Well where did you leave it?" She asked. The Doctor gestured impatiently at the computer.  
"Where do you think?" He asked agitatedly.  
"And are you going to tell me what you left?" Clara asked. He didn't reply but she didn't think he heard her, he was staring at the screen with his lips pressed into a thin line of concentration and probably wouldn't have looked up if the world had exploded.  
The typing grew quicker. The machine sparked and Clara flinched.  
"Doctor!" She called warningly but he simply furrowed his eyebrows in concentration.  
He pulled his screwdriver out and waved it over the machine.  
"Done!" He said, yanking something out of the computer just as it exploded, sending he and Clara stumbling backwards.  
They both panted heavily in shock from the sudden explosion.  
"Is that a memory stick?" Clara asked, pointing to the silver rectangle in the Doctor's hand.  
He frowned at her. "It's the fifty first century Clara. This is a miniaturised data core."  
"So it's a memory stick." Clara said as they walked back to the TARDIS.  
"It has a memory of more than a million terabytes, you haven't even got a name for that yet."  
"Still a memory stick." Clara replied, pushing the door open and skipping inside. "So," She started, leaning against the console railing. "Where to now that you have your stick back?"  
"Earth, 52nd century." The Doctor said tapping the coordinates into the TARDIS. "Now behave yourself." He said to the TARDIS who whirred angrily.  
"That's precise." Clara said. "Isn't it normally some far away galaxy at a random time?"  
"It'll take a few hours to get there." The Doctor replied, ignoring her comment. "We should get cleaned up."  
"Are you okay?" She asked, her arms folded and eyes narrowed in concern.  
"Fine." He snapped. Clara hesitated from pushing the subject, after all he had just had one hell of a day. She decided she'd let him be for a bit.  
"Okay well I'm going to get changed. You could do with that yourself, you're still dripping."  
He nodded.  
He'd showered and dressed quickly before returning to the console room. An hour or so later he turned to the console. "All right listen, I know you think what I'm doing is crazy but I have to. I don't...she deserved better. So no more paddies. River is the child of the TARDIS and I have her entire consciousness right here." He said waving the stick. "So I know you won't want anything happening to it."  
He stoked the side of the TARDIS absent-mindedly.  
"That's your wife's consciousness?" Clara asked shocked. The Doctor jumped, he hadn't heard her come back. Her hair was twisted into an elegant knot at the back of her head and her make up had been freshly applied. Even her green floral dress and ankle boots looked new. She looked lovely but seeing her like that just made the Doctor yearn for River more.  
"Yes."  
"Explain." He opened his mouth to protest but Clara glared at him. "Now." She added.  
He sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "The first time I met River she died. I knew she was from my future but I didn't know who she was. The last time I saw her before today I gave her a screwdriver which recorded her consciousness because the first time I met her I'd done it so...wow this is complicated...basically the computer in the library is a huge virtual world and I could save her by uploading that consciousness to it. Some of her friends also died and they were there with her, in their own world like a parallel universe.  
"Anyway when I did that I thought that was my intent by giving her the screwdriver but well, my friend Amy was uh well for a while she was a clone and-"  
"You're trying to clone your wife?!" Clara asked, jaw dropping open. "That is so messed up."  
"Is it?" The Doctor asked. "Clara, once I met a couple who loved each other infinitely and one of them was half pig. Another couple lived happily with one of them as a face on a slab of concrete-"  
"Wait do you mean Elton and Ursula?" She asked.  
He looked up shocked. "Yeah, how do you know?"  
"They have their own TV show." She said. "He released a video of them online and someone offered them a talkshow. It's quite good actually."  
The Doctor shook his head. "Humans...find something different and decide to...film it."  
Clara playfully hit his arm. "No insulting species and back to River please."  
"Right well I met some of the clones, well they aren't clones they're made of this plastic substance, you can change the molecular structure, it will literally become whatever you want but exposure to the TARDIS stabilises them and turns them fully human. Same memories, completely human. It was a way of saving them."  
"Doctor," Clara said gently. "Would River want this? Everyone dies, life's only precious because it ends or else what's the point?"  
"Her life ended too early."  
"Everyone's does." Clara said. The Doctor felt a pang of pity for her as he recalled her mother but this was different. He took her hand and looked into her brown eyes as he spoke.  
"River died so that I would live. It was supposed to be me but...she took the fall. If I can do anything to bring her back then I have to."  
Clara looked at him quizzically before nodding. "All right what do we have to do?"  
The Doctor grinned.  
A few hours later the Doctor and Clara were back in the TARDIS. River lay on the floor next to the console. The cloning had taken seconds and now she was back. Fully human as though none of this had happened.  
He watched her chest rise and fall as she slept, her green eyes closed. Her face was calmer than he'd ever seen it before and her blonde curls tumbled around her head and past the shoulders of the top she wore. He turned her wrist over to check her pulse.  
"I think she's ready." He said, nodding to Clara who inserted the memory stick into a slot on the console.  
Golden light spilled out of the Tardis in a stream, latching onto River so that her whole body was bathed in the light. Small beads of blueish light surrounded her head.  
"Umm Doctor is that supposed to happen?" Clara asked panicked.  
The Doctor reached for the console. "The blue light yes, that's her mind...the golden stuff..that's the TARDIS."  
"What?!" Clara shouted.  
"River was...umm let's just say the time vortex affected her. She could regenerate and umm I guess the TARDIS is trying to give her that back."  
"Will it be able to?"  
"No, it'll just burn her up." The Doctor shouted. He slammed his hand onto a button on the TARDIS and the light gave a final shot towards River before disappearing. The last traces of it hit her squarely in the chest.  
She shot up, on her feet in seconds. She was breathing sharply. Clara looked at her in shock before River's foot reached her stomach, sending her flying over the railing with a grunt of pain. The Doctor's mouth opened in a gasp as he watched. Clara didn't get up again.  
"Wha-" He started to ask, his eyes widening.  
River's fist connected with his jaw with a loud crunch. Pain shot through him as he fell to the floor, his hands flying to his face. His head was propped up against the edge of the console but the room was spinning.  
He saw River's combat boots walk closer and looked up to see her towering above him.  
The last thing he heard before he blacked out was her voice shouting at him as she clenched the front of his shirt. "Who the hell are you?"


	3. Chapter 3- An Explanation

River's anxiety had quickly turned to excitement as she took in an inventory of the place. She was wearing khaki trousers, an olive green vest top and sturdy walking boots, she was pleased to find. Practical at least. Now she just had to find out how she'd gotten from her house to here.  
Unfortunately she suspected those answers resided in the two people she'd just knocked out so instead she decided to explore. The immediate place to turn was to the two doors at the edge of the room but when she'd opened them she'd only just been able to cling on to the doorframe to stop from toppling into the vortex of colour that opened out in front of her. Her mind had felt fuzzy as she watched and she'd only just been able to find the self control to close them again.  
The rest of the place was an even bigger mystery. The corridors seemed to stretch forever but it all felt oddly familiar and despite having no idea where she was and no way of escaping she didn't feel scared. She found all manner of weird rooms, the strangest including a wardrobe larger than any room she'd ever seen, a forest and a small room with a metal tree.  
She'd searched the two people for weapons and found only a sonic screwdriver and some psychic paper. She couldn't remember learning about those objects but she somehow knew what they were as she found them.  
Anyway she'd taken the screwdriver out in front of the metallic tree on a strange urge and watched as a branch snatched it from her before returning the parts recycled as a sonic blaster, ironically what she had been looking for in the first place.  
The gun fit comfortably into her hand like she had been designed to hold one though the closest thing she'd had was a TV remote. She even stopped in the wardrobe room to apply some red lipstick she'd found, if she was going to be a badass she was going to look the part. She slipped a belt on too, to hook the gun onto.  
There she stalked back to the original room, for such a large place it was surprisingly easy to navigate. There was a kind of control desk in the middle that hummed under her fingers like it was alive. She felt her fingers itching to spin the dials but she didn't trust herself to not crash the place, she assumed it was a ship or space station of some kind. After all just because she wanted to steer it didn't know she knew how to.  
She turned round to the people she'd knocked out. Again she didn't remember learning to fight but she was glad she had. She'd bound their wrists to the metal bars that ran round the edge of the control bit. The girl had stirred a few times but the man hadn't moved. He was most familiar of all, a feeling like she'd seen him before somewhere.  
She leant against the control panel and waited for them to wake up so that she could get some answers. She thought about where she'd been before but the more she focused on it the more it seemed to slip from her mind, even now she could not remember what her house had looked at and her friends' faces were growing fuzzy. She had to get back.  
She looked at both of them carefully. The man seemed to demand a certain power even when unconscious. He was a tall man with a prominent chin and hair that once was quiffed but now fell messily across his face. River couldn't shake the feeling that she'd seen him before. The woman was easier to decipher, the man in his tweed jacket and bow tie could be anyone from a college professor to a mass murderer. The woman however was very clearly twenty first century human, British and middle class. If she'd seen her on the street she would have thought her a student. She felt a slight sense of pride as she saw the cut she'd made when she fell after being kicked followed by a sense of guilt that she should take pride over something like that.  
What both of them were doing in a place like this was the most peculiar part.  
Neither moved for a while so she excused herself to the kitchen she'd noticed and poured herself a generous glass of wine before returning. After a few moments the girl's eyes flickered open. They landed on the man before she saw River and widened in horror. She tried to move her arms to shake him awake before she realised they were tied at which point she looked up at River who raised her eyebrows and smiled before taking another sip of the wine.  
The girl's eyes narrowed and she swallowed before kicking the man. River tried to resist grinning again, this was oddly fun. The man woke with a jolt.  
"Wha-" He started before seeing River, who wondered how many times she would hear him say that and whether he knew any other words. "River," He asked calmly. "What are you doing?"  
River placed the glass gently down on a flat part of the control centre. "Listen sweetie," She started, the words rolling off of her tongue with ease. "I'm going to ask the questions here. First off, how do you know my name?"  
The man and girl shared a look, part confusion and part worry. The man looked back at her, lips quavering slightly as though he was at a loss for words. River pulled the blaster from its holder at her hips.  
"Let's try this again." She said, aiming it at the man, a devilish smile spreading across her face. "How do you know my name?"  
"Where'd she get a gun from?" the woman whispered to the man who gave a crooked smile in response.  
"I don't know." He whispered back.  
"You're turned on right now aren't you?" The woman asked, exasperation evident in each syllable.  
"No." The man whispered back defensively.  
"I don't think you're quite understanding the purpose of the gun." River said loudly. "How do you know my name and who are you?"  
They shared the same look again, the man turning back to her with his eyebrows raised in confusion.  
"You don't know who we are?" He asked. She detected a note of hurt in his voice which she narrowed her eyes at.  
"No. Should I?"  
The man shuffled uncomfortably, leaning his head back so that he could ruffle his hair anxiously with his bound hands. River felt a thrill of excitement go through her, he was oddly attractive. She quickly shoved those thoughts away, maybe she'd hit her head when she came here because no one would find a lunatic doing something so ridiculous attractive. And certainly not at this time.  
"I'd say you should, yeah." He said absently before looking at her with composure. "Okay River, I'm the Doctor and this is Clara."  
"A doctor?" She asked, still not moving the gun. "You said I was supposed to know you, what did I need a doctor for?"  
"Not a doctor, _the_ Doctor." He corrected.  
River laughed dryly and reached back for her wineglass with the hand that wasn't holding the gun. "Well someone's full of themselves."  
"Undoubtedly." The Doctor said. "River, why don't you remember me?"  
"You're shocked that I don't remember who you are, not that I tied you up?" River asked, returning the glass and putting her hand on her hip.  
"Well it wouldn't be the first time." The man replied with a secretive smile, sticking his chin up at her. River smirked and crouched down next to him, bringing her face an inch from his.  
"Well maybe it won't be the last." She smirked. Clara muttered something under her breath but River didn't take her eyes off of his green ones which were staring at her without blinking. She jabbed the gun into his stomach. "Or maybe it will." She said, withdrawing back to her original position.  
"So, Doctor and Clara. Like to tell me who you are and what you want with me?"  
"Doctor, why doesn't she remember you?" Clara asked.  
"Look this is your last warning and trust me I don't often give many of those." River said. "Answer the questions and maybe I won't fire at you."  
"We're time travellers." The Doctor said slowly as though pre empting the sceptical look River gave. Then she remembered what she'd seen when she opened the door, the rooms she'd found and the fact that she'd woken up here and suddenly the idea of time travel didn't seem so impossible. "And you, well you've only just met Clara but you're my...friend."  
"Wife." Clara said with a glare at the Doctor.  
River laughed. "Wife? I'm not the marrying type. And certainly not with...him."  
"Oi!" The Doctor said at her laughing.  
"I'm sorry but even if you are telling the truth, which I doubt...that bow tie speaks for itself."  
"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor said defensively.  
"Not exactly the height of sexiness."  
"You always thought so."  
"Glad I lost my memory then." River said. The TARDIS jolted suddenly and River stumbled to the side as Clara and the Doctor banged their heads on the bars. "What was that?"  
The Doctor stretched his head round to look past River. "That would be the TARDIS flying out the side of the time vortex because no one is steering her."  
"Is that bad?" River asked, her voice rising slightly in pitch.  
"Only if getting caught in the gravitational pull of a star and being instantly incinerated is bad." The Doctor said quickly.  
"What do I do?" River asked, running to the controls.  
"You have to untie me."  
"What?! For all I know you kidnapped me!"  
"What? River! I just told you who we were!"  
"And why should I believe you?" She asked glaring at him.  
"Why shouldn't you?" He challenged. Her lips thinned as she thought. If she didn't untie him they would die, if she did he might try something. But then again she had a laser, he was unarmed. _And_, a smaller voice in her head said, _you don't actually distrust him_.  
Realising she had no choice, she cried out in frustration. "I hate you!" She shouted, pointing the gun at the belt tying his hands. She fired and he screamed. The belt fell away and he jumped to his feet, walking closer to her. He was taller than she'd thought but not intimidating.  
"You could have missed." He said quietly, his breath warm on her face.  
"But I didn't." She replied stubbornly. He shook his head exasperatedly, his messy hair falling slightly bake into place. The TARDIS shook again jolting him back to reality. He ran over to the controls.  
"Are you going to let me out?" Clara asked gesturing to her tied hands.  
"River, untie Clara!" The Doctor shouted.  
River flittered towards stubbornly refusing but figured that if the Doctor was out Clara may as well be too and both of them were unarmed. She ran over and unlatched the belt rather than firing the gun this time, something within her told her it would be a bad idea to aim weapons when the Doctor was flying the TARDIS.  
"Thanks." Clara said begrudgingly, rubbing her wrists.  
The Tardis jolted and River would have fallen if Clara hadn't steadied her. She stared at her for a moment before mumbling thanks. The Doctor was running around the control centre, hands flying at random.  
River's hand darted out and grabbed the Doctor's wrist as he'd been about to push a purple switch down. Instead River's other hand pressed the identical blue one next to it. The TARDIS immediately stabilised. She felt the Doctor's eyes on her and lifted her head to meet them.  
"I don't know why I did that." She whispered.  
The Doctor looked at her with wonder. "The child of the TARDIS."  
"Excuse me?" River asked, clearly unimpressed.  
"You knew how to fly her once, I'd say you're remembering."  
River realised she was still holding the Doctor's wrist and dropped it before turning her back on him. "That's impossible, I've never even seen the TARDIS before, how would I know how to fly it?"  
River felt a hand on her shoulder spin her around. She batted it impatiently away and glared at the Doctor.  
"I think," He started as though to a wounded animal. "A better question would be why don't you remember seeing it."  
River folded her arms across her chest. "You're a Doctor. You tell me."  
"Hmmm well let's start with the basics." He said, spinning back to the controls as though it were an exciting game. River just wanted to punch him and run home. "Your body perished in a library and your consciousness was uploaded to a computer. While in the computer you managed to project out of it. That was the last time we saw you. Then we replaced your body and you're back!"  
He threw his arms in the air smiling widely. River's mouth gaped open slightly before it clenched shut tightly. "Do you think this is a game?" She asked through gritted teeth.  
"It's the truth." Clara said wincing as though only just realising how weird her life was.  
"All right." River said in a patronising tone, mentally planning a way of escaping from the two very clearly insane people. "Let's say that I believe you. What happened when you saw me? "  
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck anxiously. "We said goodbye."  
"What?" River asked. She was certain she would wake up any moment so she supposed it wouldn't hurt to play along. They were crazy, both of them. "You just saw me and said bye?"  
"No." The Doctor said. He returned his hands to his pockets. "We said bye...permanently."  
River leant her hand out behind her to brush the cool metal of the railing. She didn't know why but she felt a pang of pain at this. She wondered perhaps if it could be true but laughed at herself, she could become insane as them just considering that possibility. "You said bye to her and she was on a computer." Clara said slowly. The Doctor's eyes widened with slight horror.  
"No..." He stared, clapping his hand over his mouth.  
"What is it?" River demanded.  
He didn't take his eyes off of her as he answered making her feel like an interesting specimen in a science experiment. "You were on a computer and I said bye...what do computers do with stuff they no longer need?"  
"They delete it." She answered quickly before realising what that meant. "No...I mean I'm not saying that I believe you but...no."  
The Doctor cursed softly and mussed his hair in angst. "No no no." He muttered.  
"Is that even possible?" Clara asked.  
The Doctor groaned, his hair a mess at this point giving him a dishevelled look that River might have found attractive had they not been discussing her memories, or lack thereof. There were more important things than the state of his hair, she reminded herself. "No!" He shouted. "Wait they wouldn't jus delete it! Computers never just delete stuff they would have moved it into storage. Your memories are still there we just need to reach them!" He grinned.  
"Well how do we do that?" River asked smiling too. "Wait no I still don't even know you're telling the truth!" She couldn't let his infectious excitement get to her.  
"Can you remember your life in the computer?" He asked. She narrowed her eyes at him and he shook his head as though humouring her. "Fine, can you remember your life? What you did yesterday for instance?"  
"Yes." River answered firmly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows, or more likely creased his forehead slightly as his eyebrows were almost nonexistent. "Oh fine, it's a bit wibbly wobbly."  
"Did you just say wibbly wobbly?" The Doctor asked, running forwards in excitement.  
River stepped to the side slightly, the only way to get further away from him as her back was to the railing. "Maybe." She answered.  
"See it must still be there!"  
"Um," Clara spoke quietly. Both River and the Doctor looked over at her. She was wringing her hands together as though with guilt. "I can only remember snippets of my past lives but uh...when I was Oswin Oswald didn't I delete your name from all databases in history and throughout the universe?"  
The Doctor froze. "No. River, tell me you can remember something. Tell me about your parents. Your home. Anything." He said desperately.  
"Sorry, darling." River said, feeling oddly guilty for disappointing him. "I can't remember anything."  
Clara clapped her hands over her mouth as she muttered with horror. "Oh my God I deleted your wife's memories of you."


	4. Chapter 4- A Biding of Time

"Well this has been fun." River said pulling her gun from her side and pointing it at the Doctor, decidedly having had enough. "But you two are insane so I suggest you take me home now."  
The Doctor glared at her from the controls and spoke with as much condescension as she'd ever heard from him. "And where would home be, River?"  
"I don't..." River faltered as she tried desperately to remember her town and then county...even country. She couldn't even remember the planet name.  
"Your memories have been gone a while." The Doctor said, slowly walking towards her. "I'm sorry, I am so sorry but your timeline has been so closely interwoven with mine that if you've forgotten me then...let's just say I'm not sure what remains."  
He was a few feet from her now. "But we're here for you River we'll help you remember." He reached his arm out to lower her gun. Instead she panicked and fired. The Doctor smiled and snatched the gun from her as nothing happened before waving another sonic screwdriver in his hand as explanation.  
"Oh River," He said, "In actual fact I'm surprised it took you so long to shoot me."  
"Where did you get that?" She asked nodding to the screwdriver. "I searched you for weapons."  
"The TARDIS gave me one." He said gesturing to the controls. "And please never turn my screwdriver into a weapon again."  
"Or what?" River asked, crossing her arms.  
"Or nothing." The Doctor said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I was just asking nicely."  
River gaped at him slightly. "Are you for real."  
"I think so." The Doctor said, pinching his arm curiously and flinching. River shook her head baffled. He turned back to the controls before turning rapidly back to River again. "And how many times, no alcohol near the console!"  
River raised an eyebrow at him but was too stunned to say anything by the fact she'd tied him up and shot at him and he was angry about her having wine.  
"Ummm Doctor?" Clara asked. "Do you think you could drop me off home before you..er...start catching up with your wife?"  
The Doctor nodded and River laughed. "Not happening! Take me home."  
"Your home doesn't exist." The Doctor bluntly replied.  
"My home exists!" River cried defensively. She had children...but even their names were gone from her mind.  
"Describe it then." The Doctor said moodlily.  
"I-" River stopped. She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything. She racked her brains for something. "Why can I only remember a load of historical facts?" River asked out loud.  
The Doctor looked up curiously. "When did the romans first invade Britain? Name the Egyptian goddess of cats and when did Caesar die?"  
"55 BC, Bastet and 15th March 44BC." She rolled off quickly. "Why can I remember that but not my own parents?"  
"Well..." The Doctor answered slowly in that infuriating way he had, as though the news broken slowly would somehow be better to hear. "You were an archaeologist, one of the few things in your life not greatly affected by me."  
Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "Did my whole bloody life revolve around you?"  
"Unfortunately yes." The Doctor answered.  
"Well listen, Sweetie." River spat. "That's all over now."  
"This is my stop!" Clara squealed and ran out of the door. Neither the Doctor nor River looked up. He swallowed hard and turned back to the controls.  
"River Song kept a diary." The Doctor said. "I can go get it and it might trigger some memories."  
"No." River said, pressing different buttons on the TARDIS to divert it. The Doctor glared at her annoyed and pressed buttons faster.  
"Why not?"  
"Because," River said, running to the dial and spinning it in the opposite direction to that the Doctor had just turned it in. "I'll read the memories and you'll expect me to be her but I'm not! They'll be stories, I won't have lived them! I'm not...her."  
He relented from the controls and looked at her sadly. "No...no I suppose you aren't."  
He was crazy. Completely and utterly mad. However she was stuck with him, they were in the middle of the time vortex again, she could think of no other explanation for that but she was far more certain that he'd kidnapped her and done something to her memory.  
The way he looked at her though, with a sadness so deep that it made River unable to look at him for longer than a few seconds. The way the corners of his lips twitched ever so slightly when she spoke. The way he self-consciously adjusted his bow tie and hair whenever he thought she was looking. She knew he loved her but she reminded herself that crazed kidnappers could love her just as much as anyone else. Still, she couldn't cope with the permanent kicked puppy look on his face.  
"And I'm not going to love you just because I'm supposedly your wife, sweetie so you can stop with that right now." She told him. She had to put him in his place before he got any ideas. "I don't do eyebrowless aliens."  
"Right." The Doctor said nodding reluctantly. He looked lost. River's heart gave a slight tug but not enough to comfort him. She was, after all, the one with no memories stuck in the middle of space with a man she definitely did not trust. She didn't exactly not trust him either though, it was complicated. Something about him made her relax so that she had to consciously remind herself of what he was.  
"I suppose you're tired." The Doctor told her. She opened her mouth to protest but had to shut it again to smother a yawn. The Doctor grinned slightly. River's hand twitched to slap it off of his face. "Reanimation." He explained. "It drains you, ironically."  
He pulled the monitor closer to him and tapped it. "I'll have to design you a new room then." He said sadly. "I assume you won't want the old one."  
River realised that if they were married what that room would mean and nodded hurriedly at the suggestion of a new one. Again the Doctor sadly smiled.  
"Right well...up those stairs make a right then a left and it's the door straight ahead." He nodded awkwardly at her.  
She tersely nodded back. It wasn't like her, she snogged complete strangers if they had nice eyes (and his were beautiful though she didn't want to think of that) but there were so many complicated feelings and history, well on his side at least, that forced her to avert eye contact in a most un-River like fashion. "Good night, Doctor."  
He mumbled back a response and looked away sadly as she left. As she left she heard what could only be a drop of water falling onto the metal of the controls.  
She slammed the door of her new room shut behind her and leant back against it breathing heavily. She suddenly became aware that her cheeks were damp. She was crying. She sat down in shock, unable to remember the last time she cried. She felt so sad. She'd never felt like this before, sure she'd been unhappy or upset but never sad, sad was deep and painful, it ran through her very bones and made her want to curl up so small she'd disappear.  
All for that man.  
And she didn't even know who he was.  
She stayed on the floor for a few moments before pulling herself up. There was no point, after all, to cry for no reason. She needed to focus on escaping. She didn't trust herself enough to fly the TARDIS and he had her gun so she either needed to get a new one, though she doubted she'd be able to find her way back to her room with the metallic tree, or get her one back.  
With new resolve she took in the room. It was quite large though excessively plain. The floor was cold metal as were the walls giving the place a harsh but futuristic quality. The bed was slim and shoved in the corner, the only furniture in the room given that the TARDIS had walk in wardrobes. In the corner was a slim metal door like the one behind her which after inspection she discovered led into a small, equally metallic bathroom.  
She prayed the Doctor never got bored of time travel as he made an awful interior decorator. She stripped off her clothes and fell asleep almost instantly, hoping to wake up in her own house, wherever that would be though in reality planning on waking up early, when the Doctor would still be asleep.


	5. Chapter 5- An Escape

River's boots softened her footsteps on the metal floor of the TARDIS corridors but the sound still echoed deafeningly in the oppressive silence of the ship. She reached the edge of the console room and crouched low to peer into it. The console itself was humming pleasantly but the room appeared to be empty.  
Breathing a sigh of relief, River ran to the console and started typing in co ordinates. She'd thought long and hard and had decided that even if she couldn't remember where her home was, there were still people out there who would help her.  
The co ordinates entered, she span to the other side of the console to take the breaks off and begin the flight. A sort of thrill came over her as she started to fly the TARDIS, the machine responding almost happily to her controls.  
She darted around the console pressing buttons and spinning dials until it became a sort of game and she had to stop herself from laughing at the fun of it.  
"Radar." She muttered to herself, remembering just in time to check it. She turned to walk over to the screen but halted as she spun round to face the Doctor. He was so close she could feel the tweed of his jacket scratching her skin. Her breath caught in her throat as though she were a child caught stealing cookies.  
"What are you doing?" He asked, his eyes flicking over her as though the answer could be read from her face.  
River leapt forwards and pressed her lips to the Doctor's who gasped in surprise. He relaxed slightly and kissed her back, his fingers reaching out to trace the small of her back. Her skin prickled in goosebumps under his touch, even through her shirt. The room was spinning and she had to force herself to pull away, she hadn't expected to enjoy that quite so much.  
"Well...I..." The Doctor started flustered.  
"It doesn't matter." River said, pointing the sonic blaster she'd just grabbed from his pocket at him. "Take me home."  
The Doctor's mood visibly fell, his eyes drooping and shoulders sagging almost comically. "River I can't." He pleaded. "It doesn't exist.  
"I just kissed you while wearing a delightful lipstick I found." River almost sang. "I gave it a quick scan with the sonic screwdriver and it turns out it's hallucinogenic! Now it's a bit old so the effects won't be immediate but I give it two minutes tops before you start feeling the effects. Two minutes, so start talking."  
"River!" He shouted desperately.  
River sighed and gestured for him to move back with the blaster. The Doctor complied with a weary look. River turned and continued to press buttons on the console.  
"Where are we going?" The Doctor asked. His voice had begun to slur ever so slightly so that the words ran melodically together.  
"The Shadow Proclamation." River said matter-of-factly. "If you won't give me answers then maybe they will."  
The Doctor's eyes widened in horror and he ran forwards. River pulled the trigger at him but he managed to dodge the hit. He stopped however.  
"River, listen to me." He said desperately. "You can't go there, they don't know that I'm alive. If you take me there then you will be in just as much danger."  
River's eyes watched him carefully. "Why," She asked slowly, trying to keep the fear that was tying her stomach into knots out of her voice. "would the Shadow Proclamation have a problem with you being alive?"  
The Doctor ruffled the hair on the back of his neck in agitation. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, she feared he'd have none left by the time she finished with him. "Difference of opinion." He said at last. "They wanted genocide, I wanted...another way."  
River narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him, her curls springing around her head. "No." She said before anger rose unexpectedly inside her. "NO!" She repeated. "NO! NO! NO! You cannot just expect me to accept that! For godsake!" She slammed the next button so hard the TARDIS whooshed angrily.  
"River," The Doctor said quietly. River looked over at him, her arms crossed and eyes burning with anger. The Doctor wasn't looking at her but at a random spot two meters to her right, she assumed the lipstick was starting to work, the poor fool hadn't even had the good sense to wipe it off, red traces were still visible on his lips. "We can't keep going on like this. You need to know the truth, I can show you a memory."  
"I told you before I don't want a memory." Whether real or imaginary, she didn't want them.  
"Not a memory like you're thinking." The Doctor said, his voice slowing and becoming quieter. "My memory...of you...oh wow...going into...the computer..."  
"Your crazy story again?!" River asked, enraged. How stupid did he think she was? "A memory's not going to change my mind on that front!"  
The Doctor grinned weakly. "Then you'vegotttt nothin' to losssse." He slurred. River hid her face in her hands. She was crazy. As crazy as him.  
"Fine." She said at last. "What do I have to do?"  
He beckoned the space he was staring at to come closer so River walked over to him. He reached his hands out to grab thin air as though he thought she was there. She felt a twinge of guilt at having done this to him but figured a subdued Doctor was better than an awake one for escape attempts. She reached her hand out for his so that he knew where she was and he grinned as he took it.  
His hands were surprisingly rough for someone so young, callused as though he'd been doing manual labour for years.  
"Doctor." River whispered, panicked. She was regretting her choice already.  
"It won't hurt." He said, placing his fingers to her temples.


	6. Chapter 6- A Memory

She was falling. Falling in darkness. Never ending falling. Air was whipping past her face. She knew that the ground would meet her eventually but it was so very far away. And her head hurt so much that it felt as though her skull were splitting into two.  
As abruptly as she had fallen the ground slammed into her. She lay on the floor, her whole body feeling thoroughly battered. She waited for the throbbing in her head to decrease a bit before exploring her surroundings with her eyes shut, still not trusting herself to move for the fire in her veins was bad enough as it was.  
The ground was cold and metallic, the air stale around her. She could hear a beeping simultaneously far away and right next to her ear. She suddenly remembered how to move and, deciding that lying on the floor was achieving nothing, attempted to scramble to her feet.  
To her surprise it did not hurt as much as she had been expecting, more a dull throb than liquid fire. Her bones felt hollow though and her head was still screaming.  
She felt a strong hand grab hers and help her to her feet.  
"Careful," The owner of the hand said. "Sorry, side effect of memory sharing."  
River gripped his arm as the room began to spin before gradually coming into focus. She was surrounded by generators and monitors, all that she recognised to be part of a giant computer and all of it eerily familiar. One monitor, the source of the beeping was flashing a timer. A tall skinny man in a blue suit was collapsed on the floor and handcuffed to a pillar. A mess of brown hair hid his face from her.  
And on a chair opposite her was...her. She was fiddling with wires. Her curls were pulled into a ponytail and she looked as though she had been crying although her face was set in determination. She was wearing a thick astronaut's suit like one from a fantasy. She didn't even recall owning anything like that.  
"Are you all right?" The Doctor asked from next to her. She looked at him as she suddenly remembered he was there. His green eyes were full of an annoying concern that ought only be reserved for children with scraped knees. River resolutely turned her head back to the scene before her.  
"Where are we?" She asked. The man in the blue suit stirred slightly, a conversed foot kicking out. The River in the chair looked up at him anxiously, her eyes flicking briefly to the timer on the monitor before she gritted her teeth and returned to the wires.  
"My memory." The Doctor said awkwardly beside her. "The night you...well just watch."  
"But I don't remember this." River hissed.  
"Well yes, that's the problem." He curtly replied.  
"If this is your memory," River bitterly asked. "Then shouldn't you be here?"  
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and stretched up. She noticed he did that most when she asked a question he didn't want to answer. "I am here." He nodded to the man in the suit. "That's me."  
The man was obviously coming back into consciousness but he was very clearly not the Doctor. "No it's not." She said. "He doesn't look anything like you."  
The man sat up, an adorable dazed, sleepy expression on his face. "He is gorgeous." River said. She saw the Doctor straighten his bow tie from the corner of her eye and rolled her eyes.  
The machine in the corner called out "Autodestruct in two minutes" in an automated voice.  
The man's sleepy confusion quickly turned to panic when he saw the other River. "Oh! No, no, no, no! What are you doing that's my job!" He called out.  
The River in the chair looked up and smiled at him. River felt a slight lurch of disgust at seeing such a sappy expression plastered across her face and prayed she never made it.  
"Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career I suppose?" River asked curtly.  
The man suddenly seemed to realise he was handcuffed and pulled a disgusted facial expression at them. It was so similar to the look the Doctor had given her when he found his hands bound that she looked rapidly from him to the man as she wondered whether it really could be him.  
"Why am I handcuffed?" He asked. "Why do you even have handcuffs?"  
The Doctor smiled beside her. "Some things never change."  
The River in the chair smiled at the man flirtatiously. "Spoilers." River found herself smiling before realising she was laughing at her own joke.  
The man's eyebrows furrowed as his voice rose. "This is not a joke, stop this now, this is going to kill you! I'd have a chance! You don't have any!"  
She smiled self-deprecatingly. "You wouldn't have a chance and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown, there'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download."  
River felt the Doctor tense beside her and subconsciously moved slightly closer to him so that her bare arm brushed his jacket, offering him some small comfort.  
"River! Please! No!" The man called out desperately.  
"Funny thing is," The woman started in a voice so sad and wistful River knew what followed wouldn't be funny in the slightest. "This means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean- you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers. Oh, what a night that was! The towers sang and you cried."  
The Doctor was standing so stiffly beside her she wondered whether he was even listening. River's own eyes were stinging when the computer said that the autodestruct was a minute away.  
"You wouldn't tell me why," The other River continued. "but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the Library. You even gave me your screwdriver- that should've been a clue."  
At this the Doctor fidgeted guiltily. River noticed the screwdriver, the one she'd taken from the Doctor and another one lying next to a diary on the floor which the man desperately tried to reach with the hand that wasn't handcuffed but they were just a bit too far.  
"There's nothing you can do." River said sadly.  
"You can let me do this!" The man's voice was raw with emotion.  
"If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you."  
"Time can be rewritten!"  
"Not those times. Not one line! Don't you dare!" She paused. River looped her hand into the Doctor's, suddenly needing the support as much as he did. He squeezed it gratefully. "It's okay. It's okay, it's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, time and space. You watch us run!"  
A tear was leaking down the side of River's face, mirrored in the other River who remained determined.  
"River," The man practically screeched. "you know my name!"  
"_Autodestruct in ten..."_  
"You whispered my name in my ear!" The man continued.  
_"...nine...eight...seven..."_  
"There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could..."  
"Hush now," The River in the chair whispered. "Spoilers..."  
She smiled a watery grin at him.  
_"...three...two...one..."_  
She plugged two cables together causing a blinding white light which tore her and the Doctor away.  
They were on some steps. The man in the blue suit was talking to a woman with red hair but they were too far away to hear clearly. River could tell something was wrong so turned to the Doctor.  
He was crying, she realised with a start. True, she hadn't known him a day but she knew instantly this kind of display of raw emotion was rare from him. Her own thoughts were a mess so all she could do was reassuringly pat his arm, rather pathetically at that.  
"So I just..." River trailed of, unable to say the word "died."  
The Doctor nodded once and looked away, over at the people before continuing. "That's me finding the screwdriver, I put a relay in there...it let your consciousness remain...oh look I'm running off to upload it to the computer..."  
"I don't understand," River said. "How could you know I would die?"  
"We were both time travellers...our time lines were back to front." He said sadly. River mulled that over for a moment, it sounded like quite a large thing to get over...if it was true she must have really loved him.  
The Doctor's body jerked suddenly. River's arm darted out and gripped his to stop him from falling. "What is it?!"  
Her smiled at her before sagging in her arms. "That would be your lipstick." He said before the room went black and she was back on the TARDIS.


	7. Chapter 7- A Confrontation

River was steering the TARDIS when the Doctor woke. She wasn't aiming for anything particular, just ensuring that they didn't crash. It was the only way to keep busy and therefore the only way to stop from screaming or crying or both.  
She'd finally understood what she'd just seen and gone through several stages of reaction: anger, sadness, anger, pain, anger, hollowness, anger, pity and anger. She didn't know which stage she was in now. She suspected it might be anger, again, from the way she couldn't stop from glaring at the Doctor every few moments and slamming the TARDIS controls.  
He'd been out for a few hours, slumped on the floor. She'd thought about moving him but discovered that she didn't care enough to do so. He woke up groggily, blinking a few times as he sat up.  
River watched him, slightly amused with her teeth clenched and arms folded from the console. He climbed clumsily to his feet and stormed over to the console.  
Surprised, River watched as he snatched the silver lipstick up and threw it onto the floor. It clattered and rolled away before being smashed by the Doctor jumping on it. He continued to jump up and down until it was little more than a red smear and crushed metal. He then proceeded to take his sonic screwdriver and scan it until the metal sparked and smoked.  
When he was done, he turned to River who turned away and continued to fly the TARDIS. She wondered whether she ought to tell him that was rimmel #04 and that the hallucinogenic lipstick was still in her pocket. He'd clearly been expecting some kind of reaction so slumped, sulkily against the console.  
"Where are we going?"  
She didn't look up at him. "Nowhere, I was just making sure we didn't fly into anymore stars."  
"Well where do you want to go?"  
"I have no preference." She replied curtly.  
His hand reached out and grabbed hers. She tensed, knowing that if she moved it away it'd end up swinging back to slap him. Instead she snapped her eyes to his, sending him a look of so much venom that he flinched back slightly.  
"What?" He asked. "What's the matter?"  
"Nothing." She replied, moving to the other side of the console. He span round so that he was still facing her.  
"River..." He whined.  
"What?" She snapped.  
"What's wrong?" He asked again. "All of time and space, come on!"  
She gritted her teeth. There was no point telling him, it wouldn't change anything. She turned her back on him to check the stabilisers.  
"River." He said again, his voice demanding. "Tell me what's wrong."  
Unable to stop herself, she spun to face him. "I just went into your mind to see your memory." She said.  
"Yes." The Doctor prompted.  
"Well I believe you." She said, turning back to the controls.  
"And that's a bad thing?" The Doctor asked.  
"Yes." River's hands were shaking so she quickly put them under the console, hiding them from sight.  
"But there's more?" He asked.  
River looked away. She wanted to scream in frustration. She wanted to shout about how unfair life was. She wanted to cry out for her old life. She'd never felt so lost. Or awkward. Her finger traced the side of the console. She'd never felt so right either though. That was the worst of it because it somehow made the other stuff even worse in comparison.  
"River." His voice was low now, almost threatening.  
River cocked her head to the side and glared at him. "You should have let me die." She spat.  
The blood drained from his face and he looked down as though he'd been slapped. River had to stop from smiling, it felt so good to watch someone else be hurt for a change.  
"I see." Was all he said. He was silent for a few moments before turning round, his chin jutting out more than usual. "Can I ask why?"  
River shook her head. How could she possibly explain it? "I can't remember my life before." She said at last. "And I can't remember my life in...the computer either. But I had children. I had friends. I can't remember their faces or even their names. But you think that not being able to remember it stops it from hurting? The loss of it all..." She trailed off, she could go on. She could tell him about the way the thought of it felt like a poison swathed knife in her guts. That the loneliness hurt more than being covered in paper cuts and rolled in salt. That she couldn't remember her dreams of last night but that she'd woken in a cold sweat, shaking like a four year old who'd had a nightmare.  
The Doctor didn't need to know that though. For some reason, River was reluctant to add to the guilt that so obviously threatened to overwhelm him. She wanted him to hurt but not quite that much.  
"I couldn't let you die." He replied, turning away from her.  
"I got that." She replied, recalling the anguish on the man's face as he watched her die. "You should have, though."  
"Well I couldn't!" He turned to her, shouting.  
She pressed her lips together in fury. "Well that's quite the complex you've got there." She replied.  
"Excuse me?" He snarled.  
"You." She gestured to him. "Look at yourself! You just can't do it. You have to save people, don't you? Why? Because you enjoy the power of playing God? Because it makes you feel oh so much better than everyone else? Because you're far too important to let nature go against your wishes?"  
He stepped up to her and brought his face down to her. "That has nothing to do with it." He hissed.  
River pushed him backwards, furious. He stumbled and she followed him. "No because you're still trying to repent aren't you? You see yourself as such a bloody martyr. Well grow up and get over whatever you've done because you can't change it and you have to deal with it_, sweetie_." She spat the last word in disgust before grabbing to fistfuls of his shirt and pushing him against the pillar. "And if you ever," She snarled. "Shout in my face again, I will make sure you need a machine that can travel through time and space to find the body."  
He nodded and mumbled an apology.  
"Sorry," A female voice said, flustered from behind them. River hastily let go of the Doctor to turn to Clara who was stepping through the door of the TARDIS. "I didn't realise I was intruding."  
"How did we get here?" River demanded of the Doctor.  
"The TARDIS must have taken us." He said, nodding to the console. "Her house is the default location."  
River forced herself to smile but her eyes were still shooting daggers at him. "Why?"  
The Doctor looked confused. "Because she's my companion."  
River folded her arms across her chest. "Your companion? And I was your wife? Who was that red haired woman in the memory? Is that what you do? Just fly across time and space picking up women?!"  
"Wait till you hear about Elizabeth the first." Clara told her, a note of humour to her voice as she threw her scarf across the railing of the TARDIS.  
River turned back to the Doctor. "So you're just a...an intergalactic space whore?"  
Her anger turned to amusement at the look on the Doctor's face and both her and Clara started laughing. River walked to stand with Clara on the console. Her anger with the Doctor had turned to annoyance but Clara hadn't done anything wrong.  
"And for the record," Clara said. "Nothing happened between us."  
River detected a slight twinge of disappointment to the woman's words but she nodded all the same.  
"Are you done?" The Doctor asked of the two of them which made them start laughing again. He was so obviously uncomfortable with the subject that he couldn't even hide his embarrassment.  
"Did you close the door?" River asked, suddenly serious. The Doctor and Clara both turned to the TARDIS door which a second before had still been open to allow Clara to enter.  
"No..." They said at the same time. The engines suddenly turned themselves on , the noise making all three of them jump as the metallic circles inside pumped up and down.  
"River," The Doctor said. "Tell me you're doing that."  
River glared at him. "Do I look like I'm doing it?"  
He walked slowly over to her and Clara until they were all stood staring at the TARDIS's console as levers pulled themselves down and buttons pressed themselves.  
"Is it the TARDIS?" Clara asked.  
"No." River answered a second before the Doctor did.  
"How would you-" He started but was cut off by a sudden ringing. Both the Doctor and River looked at Clara hopefully but she shook her head.  
"No my ringtone's 'Call Me Maybe'."  
River pulled a look of disgust before realising the Doctor was pulling an identical face.  
"What?" Clara asked defensively. "It's catchy."  
"So was the plague." River replied and the Doctor laughed before Clara silenced him with a glare.  
River walked over to the old fashioned telephone, complete with dial, that hung from the console. She looked worriedly at Clara and the Doctor before putting the phone to her ear.  
"Hello?" She asked.  
It was a moment before anyone responded. "Hello. Looking for an added boost to your day? Then have we got a deal for you." An automated voice said. "Here at Santori Drugs we-"  
River hung up. The Doctor looked at her expectantly and she shook her head at him. "Just a cold caller."  
"What?" The Doctor asked.  
"Some marketing company." River told him. "Santori Drugs I think they said."  
The Doctor's invisible eyebrows rose. "River, they just phoned a ship in the time vortex."  
"How?" She asked breathlessly as she realised what he was saying. The Doctor shrugged. She felt a rush of annoyance flood through her, she wanted to slap that smug look off of his face.  
"Well we can ask them when we get there." He nodded at the engines, grinning. "Because I'm assuming that's where we're going."

Authors note: Just a quick thank you for all the reviews, I really appreciate it. This is my first ever Doctor/ River fic so thanks and please tell me if you think there's something I could improve, especially in terms of the characters. It's obviously quite hard in that they've never been portrayed like this in the show, I think they'd both be a little broken at this point so yeah if you think I'm moving that characters too far away from their original characterisations please tell me :)


	8. Chapter 8- A Dream

Isla's heart fluttered as she looked at him. He was so close to her that she could smell him, the smell of cologne and soap and something wonderfully his own. Her fingers reached up to press against his chest. She could feel the hard muscle of his chest underneath.  
His arm reached round the back of her shoulders, drawing her closer to him. His breath was warm on her cheek.  
She tilted her head up to see his face. He was taller than her but it was a nice height difference, he made her feel safe.  
_He's going to kiss me, _She thought giddily as she looked up into his dark brown eyes. The moment seemed to freeze, allowing her to take in every single detail about him: his perfectly arched eyebrows, his inky black hair that fell to his chin, messy in just the right way to make it look accidental, his thin nose and high cheekbones, the smile that twitched at the corners of his lips as he reached down for her. She leant up.  
And almost fell as a sharp pain seared through her head as though someone had a blunt knife and was using it to slice open her head. Her body trembled and she felt tears sting her eyes.  
But just as quickly as it had happened it was over. She was still in his arms but he was looking at her with concern. Wanting to resume their earlier activity, Isla went to interlace her fingers with his but a sudden jolt in her stomach made her hesitate_. Something's not right,_ she thought.  
"What's wrong?" His velvety smooth voice sent daggers down her back. She pushed him away and took a few shaky steps back. He looked at her without blinking.  
For a fraction of a second his face flickered like a hologram, stripping his skin and muscles away so that only the skull remained. She blinked and he was back to his usual, gorgeous self.  
"Love?" He repeated. Her fingers closed into fists. What was wrong with her?  
"Get away from me." She heard herself say.  
The moment the words escaped his demeanour changed. His lips curled into a snarl and continued peeling back until the skull was back. His teeth lengthened into fangs in his white skull, his hollow sockets burning red like fire and the bones of his fingers sharpening into wicked points like talons.  
Isla screamed and tried to run but slammed into an invisible barricade. She could see through it but not move. She had nowhere to run and he was coming towards her. She screamed until she thought her lungs would burst. Tears tumbled freely down her cheeks.  
He was in front of her now. She cringed back into the barrier but his hand followed her, the bone tracing her cheek in a sick imitation of a caress, blood welling where the finger touched. She collapsed onto the floor, still screaming and crying, unable to stop doing either one.  
"What the hell?" She heard a gruff voice say. Her head snapped up and she saw a man standing a few metres behind the monster. He was middle aged and muscular, wearing completely black with a long black metallic object strapped across him. "Where the hell is this? What the hell am I doing here? How did I bloody get here?"  
Isla looked at him astonished. She'd never seen him before. She'd never seen anyone who she'd never before met. He seemed to see the monster at last, just as it saw him. It turned from Isla and started towards the man instead.  
His eyes widened in fear as he pulled the metallic object off of him and aimed it at the monster. He pulled a trigger on it firing small metal things at the monster but nothing happened. Bits of bone chipped off but he kept on going.  
Isla could do nothing but scream as she watched it plunge a sharpened hand into the frightened man's chest and come out red as the sickly sweet smell of blood overwhelmed her.


	9. Chapter 9- A Journey

"The TARDIS is flying itself and you're putting make up on?!" The Doctor asked incredulously.  
River arched an eyebrow into the mirror she was looking in. "The TARDIS has been flying itself for the past two hours. My looking hot is not going to change that." River curtly replied. She placed the mirror back on the side. After half an hour she'd gone with Clara to get food. After an hour she'd decided she should probably shower seeming as she was still in the same clothes she had been wearing yesterday.  
An hour later she was back in the console room watching the Doctor obsess and wearing a black dress she'd found, it fell to her knees and even had a belt to secure her sonic blaster to. She completed it with studded black boots. The heels probably weren't the most practical but River walked in them as easily as she would slippers and the studs doubled as a weapon. She walked over to the console. Clara was on her phone and the Doctor was staring at the console, though stealing looks at River whenever he thought she wasn't looking.  
"'All of time and space' he tells me." Clara said without looking up from her phone. "Doesn't mention the waiting though does he? I spend more time in here than I do out there."  
"I can drop you back home, you know!" The Doctor called.  
"Yeah in about five hours." Clara replied.  
"I could do it in four." River told her.  
"You could what?" The Doctor asked her challengingly.  
River smiled at him condescendingly. "Oh sweetie, I can fly this thing better than you and I can't even remember how."  
He pressed his lips together angrily and went slightly pink. River smiled into the console, it was so easy to wind him up and far too much fun. He opened his mouth to argue back but River interrupted him.  
"Oh calm down. I'm only joking." She told him.  
"Well then..." He said, mollified and spinning round to Clara. With his back turned River grimaced at Clara who laughed. The Doctor looked from Clara to River suspiciously but both looked away passively when he did. "What are you doing on that, anyway?" The Doctor asked Clara, nodding to her phone.  
"Playing Temple Run." She answered.  
"Temple Run? Call Me Maybe?" The Doctor asked. "Clara, are you perpetually stuck in 2012?"  
"Hey! You're kind of messing with my timeline, okay? Not much time for catching up with the latest obsessions when you're gallivanting across the universe."  
River shook her head slightly. They bickered like children. She thought of her arguments with the Doctor wishing her relationship with the Doctor was as simple as theirs, not so intense. Every single thing he did seemed to annoy her, even when he was just speaking or sitting there or breathing. Especially when he straightened his bloody bow tie. Mocking him was her passive aggressive way of handling it.  
Really she was just very proud she hadn't hit him yet.  
"River!" The Doctor scolded as she started typing. "What're you doing?"  
"Doing a scan of the surroundings." She said. "We may not be able to control where we're going but we can know where it is."  
He walked up behind her and peered over her shoulder at the monitor squinting. Strings of Gallifreyan were rolling across the screen too quickly to be read.  
"But you can't do a scan while the TARDIS is in flight." He told her.  
"No," She corrected. "_You_ can't do a scan while the TARDIS is in flight." She tapped the enter button and tilted the monitor slightly so that it faced the Doctor who was still hovering ridiculously close to her.  
He looked from the screen to her in annoyance, his eyes narrowing at having been proven wrong. "Oh shut up." He said in response to her smug look. River frowned in annoyance, why couldn't he just accept the fact that she could do this one thing better than he could?  
"It's not hard." She snapped. "You just hold down the capacitator."  
"The what?" He asked.  
River tried to tell whether he was joking or not. "That small bronze button there." She said slowly. The Doctor looked at it as colour slowly crept into his cheeks.  
"Oh." He said.  
"Well what did you think it did?!" River asked, amazed that he could be so ignorant about his own ship.  
"Makes a 'ding' noise." He mumbled.  
River's mouth gaped open slightly. He was like a twelve year old who refused to read the manual of a new computer game. "Just read the monitor, sweetie." She said patronisingly, pushing it even further towards him. He glared at her before begrudgingly facing the screen.  
"M87 galaxy." He read. "Year five billion one hundred and thirty three...New Earth?" He asked.  
"No." River answered.  
"No?" He repeated slightly irritated. She imagined that he didn't hear that very often.  
"Look at the co-ordinates." She snapped wondering if he was being deliberately annoying.  
"Will they fight? Will they kiss? No one knows." Clara called, again not looking up from her phone.  
The Doctor and River ignored her. "Another planet." He said.  
"A small one." River nodded. "That company, whatever it was called-"  
"Santori Drugs."  
"Right," River said through gritted teeth, annoyed at being interrupted. She realised suddenly that he annoyed her as easily as she could annoy him and hated him all the more. "Well the whole planet is probably owned by them."  
"A factory planet?" The Doctor suggested.  
"Probably." River nodded. "But what kind of company? They said drugs but medicine? Recreation? I mean the word itself has a dozen translations, anything from sweets to ships."  
"Santori..." The Doctor muttered. "Why is that so familiar?"  
"You've encountered them before?" River asked.  
"No..." he answered. "No she's a goddess!" He shouted as he remembered.  
River shared a brief disbelieving look with Clara before she turned back to the Doctor.  
"A Goddess?" River asked, unable to keep the scorn from her voice.  
The Doctor nodded. "The Goddess worshipped by the Sisters of Plentitude."  
"Who are they?" Clara asked.  
"A cult of Catkind, like nuns. They ran a hospital on New Earth until they all got arrested for experimenting on humans grown to be diseased. All except for Novice Hame of course who as pardoned so that she could look after the Face of Boe."  
"The face of Boe..." Clara repeated as though unable to take in this information.  
"Yeah, his real name is Jack Harkness, Captain Jack Harkness. He used to travel with me until he turned immortal and apparently you become a giant face if you live forever."  
River and Clara stared at him silently. River wondered if perhaps the lipstick was still working.  
"Yes all right." The Doctor said, throwing his hands up. "It sounds crazy but you two are hardly in a position to talk about weird things happening in their lives."  
River looked at Clara "What weird stuff has happened in yours.  
"Long story. I'll tell you later." She replied.  
"All right," She said. "So back to this Santori business..."  
The Doctor scratched his neck. "Well um yes, that's all I remember."  
"We could check the library?" Clara suggested.  
"There's no point." River said. "We've landed.  
The Doctor turned to her. "No we haven't. It didn't make the whoosh noise."  
River narrowed her eyes at him. "Try telling that to the man outside the door." She said, just as the TARDIS door creaked eerily open.


End file.
